J.R.R. Tolkiens' Warrior Woman: Éowyn - Part 6 - Men's Reactions to Women Serving as Soldiers

Previously in my series analyzing Éowyn in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in light of historical counterparts, I discussed the experiences of women soldiers.  Click [HERE] for that post.  In this part, I will share a few examples of how men reacted to women fighting on a battlefield.

Victorian women went to great lengths to disguise themselves in order to serve in the military, an endeavor that was off limits to them.  They cut their hair short in order to assume a male appearance   They enlisted under male names.  And they imitated male mannerisms as well as engaged in masculine interests in order to fit in with their male comrades.   Yet, despite the care some of these women put into developing and maintaining their disguise, many nevertheless fell victims to the poor fortunes of war — along with other means — which exposed their true identities.  Men privy to this revelation always exhibited some sort of reaction, which varied   Some were sympathetic.  Some were complimentary.  Yet others did not hesitate to voice their opposition to women stepping outside their traditional gender roles and serving on the battlefield.

 One Nashville newspaper opined about two women soldiers who were discovered and appeared in court, "Such martial spirits are not needed, and their presence in the army is detrimental to its best interest."

Elizabeth Quinn's brother, Thomas, was another critic originally.  Reports indicate that he sent his sister a seething missive rebuking her and threatening to disown her for enlisting as a soldier. 

Gallipolis Daily Tribune

 

 The newspaper printed a portion of the letter that contained her response, which they claimed was in possession of one of her daughters:

Guess she told him.

 

Frances Quinn, "Frances Hook," Pvt. "Frank Miller"

 
This spirited reply was similar to  Éowyn's saucy response to Aragorn's reminder that she had accepted a charge to govern her people in the absence of her uncle, King Théoden, and, therefore, could not ride forth to war with the host to Helm's Deep.  Éowyn had desired to go with them, but it seems that everybody — including Aragorn — was gently offering veiled excuses as to why she had to remain behind.  However, Éowyn saw through them and confronted Aragorn, "All your words are but to say:  you are a woman, and your part is in the house."  She then proceeded to inform him that she was not a serving woman and could ride and wield a blade. (Return of the King)

Interestingly, Aragorn originally told Éowyn that should he return alive from Helm's Deep, "then maybe we will ride together" (Christopher Tolkien, Treason of Isengard, p. 447).  However, Tolkien changed course on Aragorn's views regarding Éowyn going off to war.

Aragorn and Théoden both were undoubtedly trying to protect Éowyn by keeping her away from the killing fields.  And because men tend to possess an instinct  to safeguard women, it is unsurprising that finding them dead or wounded on a battlefield elicited a deep sense of sorrow, despair, and possibly even failure.

The discovery of a Confederate woman killed during the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam) in September 1862 proved to be an exceptionally moving occurrence for Private Mark Nickerson of the 10th Massachusetts Infantry.  He wrote:

"Many of them [soldiers] went and gazed upon the upturned face, and tears glistened in many eyes as they turned away....Nothing in my experience up to that time affected  me as did that incident.  I wanted to know her history and why she was there."  

Henry Clinton Parkhurst of the 16th Iowa Infantry had a similar response to an  occurrence in 1863.   The emotional event inspired him to compose a poem about it he entitled, "A Campaign Incident."  Part of it reads:

Much had we seen no future day

Will far excel—much to appall.

To startle, rapture or dismay

But this strange sight surpassed them all.

The "strange sight" was a woman his comrades found dead in the trenches at Big Black River Bridge.

Parkhurst continued:

And so upon that gory crest

We made a grave where she might rest.

And laid her down with tender hand.

Her woes unknown, unknown her name.

She sleeps upon her field of fame.

No storied page her deeds will tell,

But calm she sleeps and all is well.

 An Ohio soldier was less eloquent and more succinct when referring to a woman blown apart by a shell at New River Bridge in 1864.  "She fought bravely in battle yesterday," he noted.

The reactions of these Civil War soldiers were no different than those men in The Lord of the  Rings exhibited regarding Éowyn and her wounding during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.  Interestingly, Tolkien originally had her killed.  And Aragorn, who had wed her, never remarried out of grief (Christopher Tolkien, The Treason of Isengard, p. 448).  However, the professor altered the story.  As mentioned in a previous post, Tolkien deemed Aragorn "too old and lordly" for Éowyn.  And he ultimately allowed her to survive her ordeal with the Witch-king, though her brother, Éomer, thought she was dead upon finding her unconscious upon the battlefield.  His reaction:

He stood a moment as a man who is pierced in the midst of a cry by an arrow through the heart; and then his face went deathly white, and a cold fury rose in him, so that all speech failed him for a while.  A fey mood took him...'Éowyn, how come you here?  What madness or devilry is this?'"  

Once the initial shock of Éowyn's wounding on the killing field subsided,  a sobering reality of her heroic deeds took hold.  The wizard, Gandalf, referred to her as "valiant."  And Aragorn, who had bid her remain behind, acknowledged that "her deeds place her among the great queens of great renown" (Return of the King).  As for Éomer, it is apparent that he was proud of his sister.  When he believed she was dead, he wondered why she was not lying in state next to King Théoden.  To him, she should be treated no less honorably.  It was at this point when Éomer discovered that his sister had not died and was lying wounded in the Houses of Healing.

Éomer's love, devotion, and respect for his sister is similar to the sentiment Thomas Quinn had for Elizabeth.  Although his sister's entry into the military originally displeased him, his views surely changed over time because he named a child after her. And it seems that he reserved a panel on his grave marker for her on which he had carved a relief of a Civil War soldier.   Click [HERE] to read a blog post I wrote about this.

As for Éowyn, she had finally won renown and respect for her deeds on the battlefield.  Yet, she was still woefully unhappy.

To be continued...